The invention thus lies in the area of the so-called Augmented Reality (AR)—in German, enhanced or augmented reality as a visual overlapping (=enhancement) of the reality with virtual information. An AR object or an Augmented-Reality object is an object for which spatial information is available in a computer, primarily initially in a storage unit, and which is superimposed or overlaid on an environmental image of the environment after production of the image from this spatial information by rendering. The origin of the AR object—that is, the source of this defining spatial information—is not important; it can be produced or modeled in a purely mathematical manner; it can also be spatial information obtained from an actual real object.
In Augmented Reality, the reality or environment can be viewed either as a video image or through a transparent screen, onto which the overlaying of the AR object takes place. In the first case, one speaks of a “Video See-Through” (VST); in the second case, of an “Optical See-Through” (OST). In addition, there are other variants of the visualization, which do not, differ substantially from these two types.
Augmented Reality can be employed and utilized in many diverse ways. Thus, a tool, such as welding tongs, or an AR object representing a workpiece can be overlaid in correct correlation on the image of a machine or a robot (here in the sense of ISO 8373), in order to see, in this way, for example, the movement space limited by the additional object (workpiece, tool). Coordinate systems for illustration and clarification of the correlation of these, relative to one another and to the machine or the robot, are overlaid. Text information, such as excerpts of operating instructions or the like, can also be overlaid.